Autism Awareness Month!

Hi peeps!

Well, welcome to April. Sorry if I got you with my Kirbian prank, it was last minute.

Anyways, what isn't a prank is Autism Awareness. Autism manifests itself in many ways in many people, and it still isn't understood as well as it should be. Sometimes living life with Autism is difficult, but I've been able to manage. I've also been trying to be a little more open about it, because it's a very important subject to me.

(If you want the tl;dr version, sorry ^^)

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental disorder characterized by a lack of social empathy and repetitive behaviors, as well as sensitivity to the senses. It ranges in severity, from not noticeable to completely obvious, and it affects every individual with it differently. Some more common traits are obsessions, vocal or physical stimming (like humming or twiddling thumbs, perhaps rocking back and forth), and "being off in their own little world."

I'm an extremely mild case. Trust me.

Some common misconceptions are:

Vaccinations cause autism. (Wrong. They don't. All medical evidence points to it being potentially genetic.)
It's a disease. (Wrong again. It's a developmental disorder, similar to hoe Dyslexia works.)
Everyone is like Rainman/Temple Grandin. (Uh...)

Other things you have to look out for:

Autism Speaks. They're literally the definition of an evil incorporation. They're fullof sick, vile, and homicidal maniacs (well, not all of them, some are). Their members send out propaganda about Autism, portraying it as a diblitating disease that "steals your child from you" and "makes it impossible for both you and your child to live a fulfilling life" and other stuff like that. One woman from the organization said she thought about killing her child and herself because "her daughter is autistic and she doesn't know how to fix her" (or something like that, it's too scary to go look at).

Instead, you can try looking at things like:

Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) - basically what Autism Speaks should have ended up being. Here's a link to their website --> autisticadvocacy.org/
Wrong Planet - an online resource for those with Autism/Asperger's and professionals/parents/friends of. It's a very friendly website with a decent forum, and there's even an art section. Link to website --> www.wrongplanet.net/ (The forum software is ten years old, so expect a lot of issues. My username on there is MakaylaTheAspie. I'm the one with the Ed Elric icon. )

If you have any questions about Autism, please ask in the comments or note me. Also do me a favor and spread this journal around if you can, so we can educate more people on Autism. Thanks!

~Moses